fanwankery.
i might post some real stuff later, but i was thinking about this at work all day. there was a very short-lived thread on whitechapel about watchmen and the wb/fox conflict; it quickly devolved into an argument over whether or not this movie is an abomination and if it is an insult to alan moore.
i am certainly excited for this movie. alan moore isn't. he has a bad history with hollywood, and refuses to have anything to do with them now. and he definitely would have rather them not get their grubby hands on his masterpiece.
some fanboys are saying that this movie shouldn't have been made, that zach snyder is completely insulting moore by taking the job, etc.
this movie has been optioned for a long time, and, really, hollywood hasn't come up with many new ideas. it was going to get made, somehow. i think we all got lucky that zach snyder got involved. he did a competent-enough dawn of the dead remake, and frank miller liked 300. if there's any director who is expected, and willing, to do a panel-by-panel-faithful adaptation, it's him. i could have to eat these words later, but as long as he is as insistent on keeping this thing as close to the book as possible as he says (esp. if the ending's exactly the same), i think he will have made the best watchmen movie possible.
alan moore has said, and i kinda agree, that watchmen is literature and only works as such. there is a lot in the novel that just won't translate. it is very sophisticated for its genre. but i view watchmen the same as i view every other comic book movie: completely separate entities. the movie will be a totally different experience, and i think that is okay. the movie will get more people to read the book , and that's very okay. especially if they understand what the hell's going on. if the movie is a perfect adaptation, there will be people leaving the theatres without their minds, as they'll have been blown. big blockbuster movies need that.
i see this as a win-win for everyone.
fans will get a watchmen movie.
bitchy fans will get a watchmen movie they can bitch about forever.
warner brothers (and possibly fox, depending on what kind of deal is cut) will undoubtedly get another dark knight-sized check.
alan moore will get more royalties off of his book, the work he actually wants his name attached to.
zach snyder... will undoubtedly get a dark knight-sized check. and maybe some credibility.
hollywood might realize that maybe the audience does want something a little more challenging than another cgi cartoon about bugs or "scary movie 95".. but that might be too wishful.
i am certainly excited for this movie. alan moore isn't. he has a bad history with hollywood, and refuses to have anything to do with them now. and he definitely would have rather them not get their grubby hands on his masterpiece.
some fanboys are saying that this movie shouldn't have been made, that zach snyder is completely insulting moore by taking the job, etc.
this movie has been optioned for a long time, and, really, hollywood hasn't come up with many new ideas. it was going to get made, somehow. i think we all got lucky that zach snyder got involved. he did a competent-enough dawn of the dead remake, and frank miller liked 300. if there's any director who is expected, and willing, to do a panel-by-panel-faithful adaptation, it's him. i could have to eat these words later, but as long as he is as insistent on keeping this thing as close to the book as possible as he says (esp. if the ending's exactly the same), i think he will have made the best watchmen movie possible.
alan moore has said, and i kinda agree, that watchmen is literature and only works as such. there is a lot in the novel that just won't translate. it is very sophisticated for its genre. but i view watchmen the same as i view every other comic book movie: completely separate entities. the movie will be a totally different experience, and i think that is okay. the movie will get more people to read the book , and that's very okay. especially if they understand what the hell's going on. if the movie is a perfect adaptation, there will be people leaving the theatres without their minds, as they'll have been blown. big blockbuster movies need that.
i see this as a win-win for everyone.
fans will get a watchmen movie.
bitchy fans will get a watchmen movie they can bitch about forever.
warner brothers (and possibly fox, depending on what kind of deal is cut) will undoubtedly get another dark knight-sized check.
alan moore will get more royalties off of his book, the work he actually wants his name attached to.
zach snyder... will undoubtedly get a dark knight-sized check. and maybe some credibility.
hollywood might realize that maybe the audience does want something a little more challenging than another cgi cartoon about bugs or "scary movie 95".. but that might be too wishful.